Roland's legendary drum machine returns for 2025 and it hasn't missed a beat
The Roland TR-1000 rhythm creator follows in the footsteps of the drum machines that created a generation of music


The TR-1000 is a professional digital drum machine with some serious lineage. It's the successor to the drum machines that shaped generations of music in the '80s and '90s and remains revered to this day.
Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 delivered a distinctive sound that resonated with the emerging hip-hop scene but also found its way into hundreds of pop track,s too. These analogue machines were easy to use and program, with a powerful bass drum kick and a modern electronic feel.
This new model retains that analogue feel, through a true analogue engine of voices, including 16 of those original TR-808 and TR-909 circuits, faithfully delivered in a digital form. These are supplemented by a wide range of digital and sampling technologies.
Quick Summary
Roland's latest drum machine, the TR-1000 is a modern digital successor to the legendary TR-808 drum machine that shaped a generation of music, from hip-hop to pop.
There are over 2000 samples built in to the TR-1000, plus a range of tools such as stereo sampling and resampling options, BPM sync, time-stretching and non-destructive editing. Plus, the onboard 64GB memory has plenty of free space to record your own samples to the device.
Like the original drum machines, the TR-1000 uses a mass of manual sliders and dials to adjust your sound, as well as those all-important percussion buttons to create your beat at the bottom.
While this new digital drum machine may never reach the legendary status of its predecessors, it's arguably a far more comprehensive machine, capable of producing a wide range of samples. That's certainly a tough act to beat.
The Roland TR-1000 is available to order now, priced $2,699.99 / £2,286 / €2,699.
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As T3's Editor-in-Chief, Mat Gallagher has his finger on the pulse for the latest advances in technology. He has written about technology since 2003 and after stints in Beijing, Hong Kong and Chicago is now based in the UK. He’s a true lover of gadgets, but especially anything that involves cameras, Apple, electric cars, musical instruments or travel.
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